Architect calls for Manchester United and City to ground share

South African architect Ruben Reddy has caused a stir by suggesting the red and blue halves of Manchester share a football ground on environmental grounds.

Speaking at the Soccerex conference in Manchester, Reddy suggested footballing giants Manchester Utd and Manchester City could emulate the relationship that exists between AC Milan and Inter Milan in Italy by sharing their grounds.

Sports stadium specialist Reddy said: “We have spoken about how football is the pride of this city but what would it be like if there was one stadium and both clubs used it?

“It is an interesting idea if it is to make sense economically and from a sustainability point of view. Even if we look at sharing, clubs have to unpack the story of how many uses they can we get out of a stadium.”

Reddy’s comments were made at the annual global football convention Soccerex, which sees clubs and managers from around the world meet to discuss issues within the sport.

The principal of the Durban-based practice also mentioned the possibility of repurposing stadiums hosting matches for the 2018 World Cup in Russia intohospitals or schools.

He said: “Rather than building a complete separate stadium for a one-off event, like at the Olympics, why don’t we drop a track in and see how many seats it will lose?

“That’s the kind of thing that new architects should be thinking about. We should be looking at these solutions to assist civic organisations and not pass on the cost to the people.”